Philosophea: Solutions (Chapter 4. The Spectrum of Reality)

BEFORE anything was, there could be only a deep dark blackness. When we say empty, or dark, these words come with connotations, which we must forget or suspend for the time being (that is, we should not be afraid of this darkness, for it is the essence of peace). The deep blankness, for our own discussion, represents awareness or consciousness. Therefore, awareness is the universal ground of everything.
From that ground, that absence, springs forth the light; from the cosmic conversation came the world and the language of light and energy. Therefore, the color white could represent matter, for all the material universe is composed of light and information. And as we have said, there is as much consciousness in light as there is light in consciousness. Therefore, the yin yang symbol has a profound and true meaning to it, which the author has just expressed.
The cosmos, being composed of both black and white, matter and consciousness, is as complex as it can be. Feeding back in a perpetual loop of love and appreciation, the entire universe is learning about itself and evolving with a gradual eventuality. Towards what we may never know. Nonetheless, through us the universe is learning how to live and die, to love and fear, how to laugh and cry; indeed as the relationship of matter and consciousness transpires through mutual response and intercourse or Love, the birth of beauty transforms the landscape of the universe.
Represented by the passionate color Red, beauty is the result of consciousness interacting with matter. The first color of the spectrum and the first manifestation of reality, beauty is the essence of all reality, virtue among virtues, primitive but all pervading, present in all aspects of nature and at every stage of its evolution. The interaction of consciousness with matter intensifies with evolution, gradually allowing more and more consciousness to integrate into the body matrix. For this reason evolution is depicted as an upward spiral of ever increasing consciousness expansion.
As we have hinted at above, from the cosmic soup a potential for further, more complex forms of essence shall manifest. The creation of stars, star clusters, and finally star systems with planets creates the conditions for still greater beauty through evolution; from this evolution we get the color Orange, which represents creativity, and the constant flux of change in the cosmos. [editor’s note: “sol” is the name of our star, so the “solar system” is our star’s system of planets, minor planets, comets, and all the rest of the material gravitationally locked to our star. Technically then, a star system is the generalized term for another star’s gravitationally locked matter, but most people – even astronomers who should know better – call all star systems “solar systems”.]
As beauty transforms itself from one stage of complexity to another, transcending and increasing the overall content of the universe forever, and ever, so too the gift of goodness springs forth instantly and simultaneously. For the universe to constantly be transcending and bettering itself is the definition of good, in that constant evolution takes place with perfect pace and perfect rhythm previous to life. However, because goodness proves the necessity of existence—to constantly improve the connection and feedback between matter and consciousness—goodness can be represented by the brightest of the three primary colors: Yellow.
From the evolution of matter, on a universal scale, to the evolution of life on the planetary scale, beauty, creativity, and goodness are combined to create life. A true union of and harmony of both beauty and goodness, life hints at the potential depth of mind. Green is the color that represents life itself.
From matter to life to mind, the sheer beauty and goodness of life results in the manifestation of truth. Only through the mind does the cosmos reflect upon itself and know truth. Due to this depth of awareness, which truth requires, it is appropriate that Blue represents truth and thought. The deep color is indicative of the further depth which takes place within the interior of life and its manifold manifestations of mind and the interior universe.
Interestingly enough, the focus of the cosmic eye has become transfixed upon the interior universe with the advent of mind and the discovery of truth. From here on out the colors of the spectrum will be still deeper and shall consist primarily of the realm of mind. As the depth of mind increases and the goodness of life evolves in a similar way to how life itself evolved, organization takes place through the mind. Only by proving deeper levels of truth can any valuable organization of sentient life take place. Organization is represented by the color Indigo.
Because organization requires many minds transfixed upon truth, the depth of its color is far more intense than mere truth and mind. However, because truth is, nonetheless, required, the similarity between blue and indigo, between mind and the organization of mind, is apparent to anyone. The power of any organization is determined by the level of life and the level of creativity set in motion by the minds that created them. (Here the secondary aspects are complimenting one another, just as beauty, truth and goodness complement one another, so too creativity, life, and organization complement one another.)
A truly great organization requires an equally great grasp of truth. The inherent unity of all reality and sacredness of all life engenders a potentially egalitarian and inclusive form of government and/or society, wherein the equality of all can be assured and recognized by every inhabitant through common sense and post-conventional sensibility.
Through self-governance of this kind, founded on the ground of a decent society and a true organization, transcendence may be manifest from the constant evolution as all good things transpire, and all beautiful things transform from one stage of beauty and complexity to another—more intense than the color before.
The color of transcendence is Violet, and its depth is indicative of its required level of truth, beauty, and goodness implicitly. By transcending one form of organization, we beam forth the positive light of goodness into our collective lives. The depth of transcendence, both individually and collectively, represented by such a deep color as violet, implies an utter intensity of the first deep color—represented by truth as blue. Truth is essential to transcendence inasmuch as life is essential to truth or beauty to creation.
As one begins the path of transcendence, they invariably discover through truth that all boundaries are illusory or arbitrary; that all aspects of the spectrum of reality are synergistically intertwined in a complex way that exceeds perception. Moreover, one discovers the extent of those illusions through contemplation or meditation—recognizing them as being essential and the same to all life. From this perspective, the only rational sovereignty is a universal one from within and cannot be written into law or removed or outlined by any institution but is inscribed in the qualia of all sentient beings, and written into the genetics of all living beings.
The state of transcendence transforms organizations, previous interpretations of truth, goodness, and beauty; it gives a greater, more penetrating look at what defines life and creativity. However, despite transcendence being so all-encompassing, it is not the end of the spectrum of reality. In fact, the color choral represents the infinite potential that is beyond matter and beyond our minds to know. A subtle combination of white and red, a color which represents consciousness once again interacting with matter, this time through sentient consciousness rather than cosmic consciousness.
As the depth of consciousness reaches its zenith, meaning a collapse of colors altogether, their state of consciousness reaches a self-similar return to the material universe through an appreciation of beauty. And so the cycle of this spectrum is completed and potentially repeated ad infinitum.
This spectrum is important because it tells us so much about the individual and the collective human experience. Conforming to the fractal nature of reality, the spectrum of reality functions on all scales knowable to sentient beings. The first two tiers, representing the exterior realm of matter and the final, third tier, representing the interior realm, are not complete without understanding their reciprocal nature and the self-similar return to beauty and further recycling of the spectrum from deeper, more individualized states of consciousness. As the Hermetic teachings state: “As above so below.”
This spectrum, and its guiding principle, transcendence, is a fractal one, composed at every level of the overall picture. Indeed, to discover the secrets of the universe, all one must do is contemplate a tree or any of the wonders of nature. Only by embracing ignorance would we consider trivializing the natural world, taking it for granted, or trying to conform nature to our selfish will; the wise being neither lives in the wild, nor in the city does she dwell; for no matter where she dwells, she is in the forgotten realm of silence, peacefully aware that she is lucidly dreaming a cosmic attempt at perfection.